By the time Bob Moore decided that he had played on enough records, he had logged over 18,000 sessions spread over 30 years. Ironically, he retired just as session musicians started getting a little more recognition for their work, so he is best remembered by many for his surprise hit 'Mexico,' that briefly elevated him into the spotlight in 1961.
By his own admission, Bob Moore did not belong in the spotlight in 1961---or any other year. Never a gregarious person, he treasured his privacy and did not want to tour extensively. 'Mexico' brought him both national and international acclaim, but convinced him that he belonged on the studio floor with his bass rather than marshalling a touring band.
The Nashville recording industry is largely comprised of those who were born elsewhere, but Bob Moore was born in Nashville on November 30 1932, and began his career there, although his first sessions were held in Cincinnati. "I started off playing steel guitar and guitar," he recalled recently. "I was in a little band during high school and we gradually got into working with established musicians. My first session was in 1954. The business was young in Nashville and we went up to Cincinnati to record a series of sessions over 2 or 3 days with Cowboy Copas, Paul Howard and Hawkshaw Hawkins. From the mid-50s, I made a living in the studio---a good living."
Moore confounds the image of the country musician. Like fellow session stalwarts Hank Garland and Chet Atkins, Moore lists a surprisingly eclectic number of influences. His favorite bassist is Oscar Pettiford, a half-black half-Native American musician who (with Charlie Mingus) helped define the role of the bass in modern jazz. Moore also shared an apartment with Hank Garland and they studied with each other, trading ideas and refining their technique.
In 1959 Moore bought a share of the fledgling Monument label. "I had been a leader on some of the first Monument sessions and one night I made mention that if there ever was an opportunity to buy into the company, I'd be interested. A little while later there was a lawyer who owned one-third and wanted to get out. I bought his share and the first record after I bought in was Billy Grammer's 'Gotta Travel On,' then we had the Velvets and 13 number one hits with Roy Orbison."
The idea for 'Mexico' had germinated since 1951 when Moore had toured Mexico with Red Foley. "We watched a little band down there one night," he recalled, "and they had about eight trumpets and six guitarists. That was the entire band---and it was one hell of a great sound, even though they were all out of tune. That's where I got the idea for the sound, even though I didn't have a song in mind. After I bought a piece of Monument, I told Fred Foster that I wanted to make a record under my own name and I decided to use that Mexican sound. The night before the session, Boudleaux Bryant called me and said that he had a song he thought would fit what we were trying to do. He sung it to me over the phone and I thought it fit perfectly. We got a hold of Bill McElhiney and he wrote out the arrangement. When we cut the session we decided to un-tune the horns, even though we kept the other instruments in tune. If I hadn't owned part of the label, I don't think another label would have given 'Mexico' a shot.
"Just after the record was released, I left Nashville for a vacation out west. When I got as far as Beaumont Texas, I started hearing 'Mexico' and by the time I got to Houston, I was hearing it 3 or 4 times an hour."
The record rose to number 7 in the American pop charts and was an even bigger success in Germany. It owed almost nothing to the music that Moore played day in and day out for a living; in fact, it predictably failed to make a showing in the country charts. 'Mexico' showed Moore's musical eclecticism and willing to experiment that had served him so well in the studio but was ultimately stifled by his working environment.
Ironically, one of Moore's favorite musicians, Charlie Mingus, had recorded a stellar Mexican influenced album, "Tijuana Moods" in 1957 although it was unreleased until 1962. It is just conceivable that the success of Moore's record convinced RCA to rescue Mingus' eccentric classic from the vaults.
The surprise success of 'Mexico' caught Moore offguard. He toured Germany (number one for 8 weeks, Feb & Mar 1962!) and recorded in Hamburg and Berlin, bringing over Bill Justis to write the arrangements. He was even mobbed by fans in Frankfurt, but the brief brush with fame gave him little taste for more.
After his return, Moore went back to his steady gig in the studio. Everyday he unpacked his bass, working twelve straight years without a day off. His solo recording career slowly atrophied. After he sold his share of Monument he recorded briefly for Hickory, and then eschewed his solo career altogether. He finally decided that he had played enough notes and retired from studio work. After a brief spell on the road with Jerry Lee Lewis (which cured him of a desire to tour) and an even shorter fling in the antique car business, Moore decided to concentrate upon record production.
He has very few regrets for the career that might have been. "I'm not a TV star or an entertainer," he asserted. "I'm a musician. I was a fish out of water and I went far enough in the public eye to suit me. I would have liked to go down in the annals of history like Johnny Cash or Waylon Jennings, but these people pay a price. Fame takes away a lot of your life."
Despite his relative anonymity, Bob Moore has achieved a level of recognition. Now that the role of the studio pickers in the generation of the Nashville Sound is increasingly acknowledged, Bob Moore and his fellow members of the Nashville A-Team are seeing some belated acclaim. However, unlike most of the others, Bob Moore has a bonafide hit under his own name. The gold record is on his wall---and the music is reissued here for the first time.
COLIN ESCOTT
Toronto, November 1988
